“I was reading a lot of wellness articles, and felt they were telling me whatever I was doing – whether it was eating or moving – I was doing it wrong,” she explained. “It was annoying and made me feel terrible. So niksen, which told me it s OK to not have to be improving myself all the time, was very helpful.” Ms Mecking says practising
niksen, a Dutch word which literally means doing nothing, actually makes us more productive. A conclusion also reached by scientists, who found that switching into the brain s so-called default mode”, the mode our brains go into when we re just resting and thinking, is essential for its optimal development and functioning.